1. Field of the Invention
The reversible latching hinge of the present invention is for use in open-topped containers, such as railway cars or the like, which are intended to be inverted for dumping their contents. The present invention is both a hinge and a latch for a roof of such a container, and allows the roof to swing away automatically from the opening side of the container when the container is inverted.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known to invert containers such as railway cars about a longitudinal axis in order to dump the contents of the container. It also is known that such containers may have roofs hinged and latched at the upper sidewalls of the container such that, when the container is pivoted about its longitudinal axis is either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction for dumping the contents, the uppermost latch may form a hinge for swinging motion of the roof, while the lowermost latch may automatically disengage to permit the roof to swing away from the opening. Such containers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,461,818 of Sanders et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,493,131 of Allen, U.S. Pat. No. 3,583,334 of Schuller and U.S. Pat. No. 3,583,335 of Schilf et al. In each of the above references, the latching hinge that interconnects the roof and the container is designed such that the roof is displaced laterally with respect to the container during inversion of the container. In each case, the lateral displacement is necessary for the functioning of the latching hinge.
It also is known in such apparatus that the roof may be moved when the container is upright to allow for the container to be filled by gravity. In such cases, either the roof is lifted about one side such that it pivots about the other side, or is lifted by both sides and removed entirely from the container. See the references to Shilf et al and Allen.